On 18 November, Nike introduced ‘Nikeland’ – a new gaming led virtual version of its corporate headquarters – which aims to encourage youngsters to explore a virtual version of its world headquarters.
The virtual initiative, which is created within the Roblox’s online gaming platform and game-creation system, invites kids to create their own avatars, play a range of games like ‘Dodgeball’, ‘Trampoline Tag’ and ‘The Floor Is Lava’ and get Nike gear for their virtual selves in a digital showroom.
Nikeland on Roblox is described by the brand itself as a new virtual experience where sport has no rules.
In addition to screen time engagement, youth interaction and engagement and an introduction to the online commerce funnel, Nike has also built strands of real-world activity into the initiative via the accelerometers on the users’ devices (smartphones and tablets). This means kids can use their real life body movement to help with in-game moves – such as jumping and running – which offers a pathway taster of the much discussed ‘metaverse’ concept.
Nikeland was introduced via a social-first campaign running across Nike’s own channels led by a CGI video (called ‘Where Sport Has No Rules’) and the promotion was also heavily backed by a PR campaign and via media partnerships.
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Within a few days following its 18 November posting, the spot had generated 3.7m views on Nike’s YouTube channel and 3.6m views on its Instagram feed. Illustrated the interest in and appetite around the current metaverse trend.
Linked to the sport’s space’s virtual explosion through the likes of NFTs and digital collectibles, this initiative sees Nike dip its toe into the metaverse idea and sees the Portland headquartered sportswear behemoth follow in the footsteps of other brands such as Hyundai and Chipotle by jumping into Roblox.
Roblox is an online platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation and officially launched in 2006 which enables users to program games and play games created by other users. Since it was first conceived in 2004, Roblox has remained a fairly small platform/company but it began to accelerate from 2010 and has boomed through the pandemic and with 2020/21’s heightened interest around the idea of the metaverse.
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